Alaska tribes and rural hunters have long complained that the dual federal-state game management system is hard to live by and doesn’t give subsistence users their due. Today, Ahtna Inc., the smallest of Alaska’s Regional Native Corporations, presented a proposal for co-management of game to a U.S. House panel. It’s a pilot project and it’s sure to be controversial.

VPSOs Prepare For Possibility Of Being Armed

Ben Matheson, KYUK – Bethel

The effort to allow VPSOs to carry guns cleared a major hurdle this week when the Alaska house unanimously passed the bill that does just that. The decision is in the hands of legislators in Juneau now, and while the bill passed 38-0, the issue on the ground is more nuanced. Several Y-K Delta VPSOs were in Bethel for training last week and spoke to KYUK’s Ben Matheson about the prospect of being armed.

The legislature has rejected proposed pay increases for the governor, lieutenant governor and main department heads.

Geoduck Dive Fishery Opens; Market Found

Leila Kheiry, KRBD – Ketchikan

Southeast Alaska divers were out fishing for geoducks on Thursday, for the first time in about two months. Processors found a market for the clams outside of China, which still has not lifted its ban on West Coast shellfish.

The Juneau School Board will not reconsider the ban on middle school sports travel, at least for the rest of the school year.

AK: Machine Shop

Robert Woolsey, KCAW – Sitka

Manufacturing – like everything else – is becoming more computerized. But instead of replacing craftsmanship, digital technology is opening up possibilities for students to create things in ways that simply weren’t practical a decade ago.

Three kids at Sitka High School are building a tool — really just a customized piece of metal — to do an unsung, but important, job in the community. And their collaboration points toward a future where we’ll make stuff differently.

300 Villages: Hoonah

This week we’re heading to Hoonah, a small community on Chichagof Island in Southeast. Chris Erikson runs a guiding business in Hoonah.